Rimutaka Cycle Ride,

6 July 2016

The increasing popularity of the Wednesday trips can be judged by the fact that last Wednesday (6 July) there were a total of 5 trips to chose from. There were four tramps of varying degrees of difficulty plus a cycle ride – the first for some time.

The ride ‘Maymorn to Featherston’ basically followed the line of the old railway over the Rimutakas and included the ‘incline’ down to the Wairarapa on the other side. I had anticipated a possible 10 members being interested so it was great that 20 riders finally turned out.

We left Maymorn Station at the civilised hour of 10.30 and took an hour to the car park at the beginning of the main ride to the summit, which we reached in another hour and where we had lunch just before the long tunnel. The descent to Cross Creek down the ‘incline’ at a constant gradient of 1:15 was a real buzz, then the ride out through the trees to the road along a narrow wiggly track turned out to be a popular part of the journey. Even the long flat ride back to Featherston along the road was enjoyable in the Wairarapa sunshine. We arrived in Featherston with time for a leisurely coffee before catching the 4.20 train back to Maymorn through the tunnel. Even Metlink came out tops, providing an extra wagon on the back of the train specially for our bikes and the guards were really helpful loading and unloading them for us. ‘Siberia’, a sunless and windy curve on the incline where the track has been washed away, lived up to its name but otherwise the weather was mainly sunny with very little wind and quite warm for midwinter, which contributed to the success of the trip.

The general consensus seemed to be that we should organise more Wednesday cycle rides. With this in mind I have started to compile an email list of cyclists listing all the members who participated on this trip. If you were not there but would be interested in more rides in the future, please email me at jrhill@xtra.co.nz and I will add you to the list. The list will only include TTC members but if members want to invite friends along that’s all the better, If you have any suggestions for future rides or would like to organise one yourself, please contact me or Joan Basher. JH (scribe), Paul Armstrong (photos)